Modern research and technology have provided society with a wide variety of electronic devices. It is appreciated that some of these modern electronic devices are very powerful and useful to their users. For example, some of the electronic devices which fall into this category include: computers which occupy large office space down to computers which are held in one's hand, satellites which orbit around earth relaying a multitude of communication signals, global positioning system (GPS) devices capable of determining the specific locations of their users on the earth, cellular phones which enable their users to communicate wirelessly with other people, to name a few. Additionally, it should be appreciated that some modern electronic devices also provide entertainment to their users. For instance, some of the electronic devices which fall into this category include: portable and fixed radio receivers which provide their users music along with a wide array of different audio programming, video game consoles which challenge their users with varying situations within different virtual realities, portable and fixed compact disc (CD) players which provide music to their users, and portable and fixed televisions which provide a wide variety of visual and audio programming to their users.
Recently, it is understood that an increasingly amount of television programming has become available to the general public. For example, 24 hours a day consumers of the general public are able to receive and watch hundreds of different channels of television programming within their households and/or businesses via coaxial cables, broadband Internet, personal satellite dishes, and the like. Furthermore, it should be appreciated that the amount of available television programming is continuing to increase.
For example, not that long ago there use to be only three major television broadcast companies basically providing television programming throughout the entire United States of America. In contrast, currently there may be as much as one hundred times more television channels that are basically providing nationwide television programming. Furthermore, it is understood that some of these television channels are continuously broadcasting television programming 24 hours a day (e.g., ESPN, VH1, CNN, QVC, and the like). Consequently, there is a tremendous amount of television programming available to consumers of the general public.
Currently, a set-top box is one of the devices that is used to receive television programming from one or more of its different distributors. Specifically, a set-top box is a device that is designed to receive and convert (for example) a cable television signal into an input signal for a television set. Furthermore, it is appreciated that set-top boxes may also be designed to receive and convert television signals that are received via satellite dishes, the Internet, and the like. Additionally, set-top boxes may also be utilized by their users to order pay-per-view shows (e.g., movies, events, etc.) from different distributors.
However, there are disadvantages associated with pay-per-view shows. For example, one of the disadvantages is that the viewer is typically restricted to watch an ordered pay-per-view show when it is scheduled to be broadcast and not at any other time. Another disadvantage associated with a pay-per-view show is that during the broadcast of one, a viewer is typically unable to pause it in order to (for example) answer their telephone or go to their kitchen to retrieve some type of beverage and/or snack food. As such, in order to accomplish any or these tasks, the viewer may unfortunately end up missing some of the pay-per-view entertainment that he or she has paid for.
One technique for overcoming these disadvantages is to utilize a personalized video recorder (PVR) and a set-top box to automatically order and record a pay-per-view show. Specifically, a personalized video recorder is connected to an output of a set-top box in order to receive any type of television programming signals from it. Additionally, in order to enable the personalized video recorder to control some of the functionality of the set-top box, an IR (infrared) blaster is connected to receive IR transmissions from the personalized video recorder and output them to an IR receiver of the set-top box. Furthermore, special EPG (electronic programming guide) software has been designed to operate on the personalized video recorder that enables its user to program it to automatically order a pay-per-view show via the set-top box and then subsequently record that pay-per-view entertainment when it is broadcast.
For example, when the personalized video recorder is programmed by a user to order a pay-per-view movie via the set-top box and record it, the special EPG software operating on the personalized video recorder knows that the first thing that the EPG operating on the set-top box wants to receive is a confirmation to the question “Do you want to order a movie?” As such, the special EPG software waits a predetermined amount of time until it thinks that the EPG of the set-top box is waiting for the confirmation and then it causes the personalized video recorder to send a “yes” signal to the set-top box via the IR blaster. The special EPG software also knows that the next thing that the EPG of the set-top box wants to receive is a personal identification number (PIN) code. Therefore, the special software waits a predetermined amount of time until it thinks that the EPG of the set-top box is waiting for the PIN code and then it causes the personalized video recorder to send a PIN code to the set-top box via the IR blaster. In this manner, the special EPG software operating on the personalized video recorder is able to order a pay-per-view show via the EPG of the set-top box. It is appreciated that the personalized video recorder will subsequently receive the ordered pay-per-view show from the set-top box and record it.
However, it should be understood that there are some disadvantages associated with the personalized video recorder pay-per-view ordering and recording technique described above. For example, one disadvantage is that IR blasters are not very reliable and they are known to drop a digit frequently during signal transmissions. As such, this unreliability can sometimes result in the special EPG software operating on the personalized video recorder being unsynchronized with the pay-per-view ordering process of the EPG operating on the set-top box. Therefore, the user may end up paying for and recording the wrong pay-per-view show. Conversely, the user may end up not paying for a pay-per-view show, but the personalized video recorder ends up recording nothing of interest (e.g., 2 hours of “Please enter your PIN code”) to its user.